Wednesday, April 23, 2008

1Cor 3, 17-20 The temple of God, which you are, is holy

(1Cor 3, 17-20) The temple of God, which you are, is holy
[17] If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy. [18] Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise. [19] For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: "He catches the wise in their own ruses," [20] and again: "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain."
(CCC 797) "What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church" (St. Augustine, Sermo 267, 4: PL 38, 1231D). "To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members" (Pius XII, encyclical, Mystici Corporis: DS 3808). The Holy Spirit makes the Church "the temple of the living God" (2 Cor 6:16; cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 2:21): Indeed, it is to the Church herself that the "Gift of God" has been entrusted.... In it is in her that communion with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruptibility, the strengthening of our faith and the ladder of our ascent to God.... For where the Church is, there also is God's Spirit; where God's Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 24, 1: PG 7/1, 966).

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